Kimani, $6.50, ISBN 978-1-335-21687-8
Contemporary Romance, 2018
I have a dilemma when it comes to Sherelle Green’s A Los Angeles Passion. It’s well written enough from a technical standpoint, but the story is so forgettable that I am not sure how to write a review of it.
The synopsis is basically wealthy hot guy hooks up with hot chick. See the problem here? This story is basically “Generic Kimani story #4,219,128”. Trey Moore is an “award winning screenwriter” living a lifestyle that will make anyone familiar with reality scratch their head were not for the author making it clear that Trey’s parents are loaded to the wazoo. He has to take care of his nephew, a baby, and he has no idea how to even start until “glitzy day care center” owner Kiara Woods steps in to show him the ropes. And that’s basically it.
On one hand, the story is pleasant to read. There is the usual “Let us meet all these people who will show in future books… oh wait, the line’s dead, oops LOL” clutter bogging down the momentum of the story, but fortunately, this is limited to the first few chapters. The rest of the story is focused on Kiana and Trey, much to my pleasant surprise, but the whole thing is so smooth sailing and awesome that the relationship ends up being rather flat and uninteresting. The characters are likable, but also generic to the point that I can’t tell them apart from the hero or the heroine of the last few Kimani books that I’ve read. Are the authors stated on the cover actually real, or have the Kimani people resorted to using some computer software to churn out books based on set parameters and such? I do wonder.
Oh wait, I do remember one thing clearly: the heroine telling the hero to ditch the condom because she “trusts” him. Girl. What is this? Does true love make one resistant to sexually transmitted diseases? These two are LA people! He is a player! I don’t know why authors do things like this. If they want to introduce safe sex, I always am of the opinion that they should do so in a way that is accurate and real. All this “condoms are only for sleeping with blokes that you have no feelings for” nonsense is not only silly, it is also an irresponsible message to give to impressionable people who may be reading the story. Unless there is clear evidence that the other person is clean (such as a medical report), Jimmy has to ride in his pocket.
Anyway, A Los Angeles Passion. It exists, and I guess that’s all I have to say about it.
